Blood Lust
by Amelia Louisa
Summary: When a deadly virus spreads internationally wiping out 90% of the human race and transforming them into blood thirsty killers, Rebecca Dale and a group of rag tag survivors begin to rebuild a world in Queensland, Australia that must face everything the virus, mother nature and less friendly survivors have to throw at them in a world with no laws, no rules and no luxuries.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

As a landscape gardener Rebecca Dale was used to the harsh weather that Southern Queensland was known for, the sun was either blisteringly hot or the rain was threatening to flood the local areas causing chaos and destruction. Rebecca wiped her brow to remove the evidence of her hard labour as she mused about how the day was a little hotter than the usual January temperatures, rising to possible 40 degrees.

She had been working on Mrs Landsbury's garden for two weeks now and was all but finished, just a few finishing touches to finalise and she could move on to the next job she had booked in a few streets away from her own home. Mrs Landsbury was a friendly lady in her late forties; often bringing out cold drinks and snacks for Rebecca to enjoy and talking over various aspects of gardening and plants as well as other topics she had heard on the daily news or chat shows that she watched.

Grabbing her shovel Rebecca began to pile another load of mulch into the wheel barrow in preparation for tipping it into the flower bed to be spread out. She smiled when she heard the familiar sound of Mrs Landsbury's screen door, signalling the elder lady's presence. Rebecca stood and removed her gloves, wiping her forearm over her brow to remove another layer or sweat before turning to throw a warm smile to her client but instead of the usual cheerful smile she was met with a deep frown.

"Mrs Landsbury, are you ok?" Rebecca asked, sincerely concerned for the woman she had grown to know and like over the previous two weeks. Her client reminded her alot of her mother back in England, her personality and mannerism's often took the younger brunette down memory lane.

"I think you had better come inside and take a look at the news, It looks like something really bad is happening" The paleness in her face told Rebecca all she needed to know about the seriousness of the situation. She had expected to enter the immaculately kept lounge to hear news on a cyclone that was heading straight for the lower coastline of Queensland, or a major storm cell heading towards her home, but the images on the screen were the last thing she expected.

The thirty two inch flat screen held images of chaos and destruction that were unbelievable, she knew that they had to be real because she was sat watching it, but it was almost impossible to believe. The images flicked between Brisbane City, Southbank, Surfers Paradise and Australia Zoo, all iconic locations from around the capital of Queensland. Rebecca and Mrs Landsbury watched in shock as hoards of people ran screaming with fear as other people followed them slowly and unsteadily. The news changed from state to national news, the images changed to show the same chaos in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. The two women sat in silence as they watched more news break live on the screen with the broadcast turning international bringing news and images of London, New York, Tokyo, Shang Hai, Moscow, Mexico, Delhi, Johannesburg, Berlin, Bangkok and Paris, all showing the same signs of chaos and violence as shown on the local news.

Reports were swarming in from reporters in helicopters flying over the action on the streets trying to articulate what they were experiencing but with no real knowledge of what was happening other than speculation and what was right before their eyes. The broadcast flicked back to Moscow as a reporter narrated the actions of the armed forces just over her left shoulder; Rebecca's jaw dropped in horror as she watched several Russian tanks drive into Red Square followed by several hundred foot soldiers, each firing automatic guns into the crowd. It wasn't so much the overly violent and deathly action of the Russian Military that shocked Rebecca most, what sickened her most was that the crowd they were firing into kept coming despite being hit various times; very few actually stayed down or even went down. The newsreader gasped as the mob ploughed straight into the foot soldiers, grabbing them in any way they could before lunging in towards necks and arms to plunge their teeth into their flesh, very few stayed to take several bites of their victims, most seemingly too distracted by the more active people around them and moving onto their next victim. Moments passed and the front line of camouflaged hero's began to rise, their once immaculate uniforms covered in blood and dirt, they turned into the opposite direction they had marched from and stumbled towards their comrades as they joined the violent mob in attacking their brethren.

Rebecca stood frantically, she had long been a fan of zombie movies and what she had just viewed resembled what she had seen many times before in the movies created to scare and terrify their audiences. She grabbed her mobile from her pocket and began flicking through her phone until she found her partners name, she clicked the name her phone frowning and sighing when the busy line tone sounded from the tiny speaker next to her ear. She hung up and searched for the WhatsApp button on her phone so she could send a message for Lizzie to read whilst she kept trying to call her.

'Babe, look at the news, it looks like our zombie apocalypse game just got real all over the world. I'm going home, please come too, don't worry about what work says just get up and leave work, I love you BE SAFE'

She watched the screen impatiently, satisfied when the message had been confirmed as sent.

"I have to go home and wait for Lizzie; do you want to come with me?" The tall brunette asked the shorter greying lady as she thrust her phone back into the grubby pocket of her work trousers.

"No dear I'll stay here, John will be home from the office soon and he will worry if I aren't here when he gets home" The older lady replied, her face masked with a calm worry.

"Ok, lock the doors after me and take as much food and water as you can and go into your bedroom and lock the door, push something in front of it and stay quiet, whatever you do, don't go outside until you have heard news that this is over" Rebecca gazed into the eyes of her client to portray the seriousness of her commands whilst trying to remove the panic from her voice.

"I'm sorry I have to go" Seconds later she was running down the paved drive towards her white Ute parked on the road, she thrust her hands into her pocket to retrieve the key fob holding her car, tool box and home keys and frowned when they weren't there. Remembering that they had been pushing into her leg as she bent down she had placed them on the windowsill in Mrs Landsbury's back garden, with that thought she turned on her heel, rushing towards the side gate to find them.

She grinned triumphantly when she spotted them on the brick sill, she grabbed them hastily, not allowing herself time to flinch as the heat of the metal burned against the skin of her palm. She grabbed her favourite shovel as she ran past it, she had gotten it the day she had opened her business as a good luck present to herself and it had been the best shovel she had ever owned.

She flew out of the gate, swinging the metal and pine wood fence behind her so it would catch on its latch and secure the garden for her client. With just two steps from the gate she felt something snag her long brunette hair, pulling her back and forcing her off balance. She tumbled to the floor, her shovel flying from her grasp, she glanced around her frantically, trying to establish what she had snagged her long locks on. She reached her arm back to try to free herself, her knuckles connecting with the soft flesh of what felt like an arm, she gripped her fingers around it tightly before ripping it away from her head, she flinched as she felt a small fist full of hair roots being ripped straight from her scalp.

She tumbled to her back, her eyes meeting the violent human form attacking her for the first time. She didn't have time to react to the shock that hit her as this man attacked her for no reason all she could think is that he had to be one of the things that she had just witnessed on the news.

She rummaged behind her as she kept her eyes fixed on the figure shambling towards her, finally her fingers felt the texture change from the short silky strands of the well manicured lawn to the smooth wooden shaft of her shovel, she wrapped her fingers tightly around the wood, the feel of it completely natural against her skin as she swung it as hard as she could towards her attacker.

The shaped metal connected with the jaw of the figure now towering over her, as he stumbled to the left, Rebecca took the opportunity to roll to the right, careful not to hurt herself with the shovel. She jumped onto her feet, spinning to locate the man; she found him two meters from her, shuffling forwards with his arms stretched towards her. His jaw held a gash that was easily five inches long, the sharp metal of her shovel had sliced straight through the skin and exposed the gums and teeth of his bottom jaw, a thick, dark blood oozed from the wound, soaking into his green polo shirt, yet he carried on towards her completely unfazed by his wound as if it didn't exist.

Without a second thought, Rebecca swung the shovel again, this time aiming it for his forehead. As the shovel connected with her attacker just above his ear he slowed slightly, still showing no sign of pain or interest to his injuries. With a little struggle she managed to heave the shovel back towards her before swinging it one final time, this time with all of her might and aiming for the same spot just above his ear.

The figure dropped instantly to the floor, ripping the shovel from Rebecca's hands and causing her to lose her balance and step closer to the fallen body. She jumped back in fear of having her leg grabbed, but as she stared at the man before her she realised he wasn't moving at all. She stood for what felt like twenty minutes waiting for any sign of movement at all, in reality it was just a few seconds. She reached for the wooden shaft and jerked it forcefully towards her. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat at the crunch of bone and metal rubbing against each other, she turned and ran for her Ute with determination to not fall under attack again as she pushed the feelings of terror and guilt deep that she had just taken a life, regardless of whether it was in self defence.

Rebecca reversed her Ute from the driveway and began the short journey to her home, thankful that the job she was working on was only a few k's from the estate that she and Lizzie had recently built in. As she hit the only main road between Mrs Landsbury's and home she gasped in terror as she saw the people in front of her mobbing cars, smashing the windows in unison and pulling the vehicles occupants into the road before attacking them. Without any more thought Rebecca threw her Ute into reverse and slammed her foot on the accelerator, desperate to put some space between herself and the blood bath before her. Her tyres squealed against the tarmac as her vehicle began to fly backwards, gaining the attention of several members of the mob who looked up, their faces and hands covered in the blood of their victims.

Having moved several hundred feet away from the slaughter, she began to turn her vehicle, deciding that she needed to head for the back road home, mid turn she noticed that several of the mob had began to chase her, she paused to watch them for a moment noticing that there was no real speed to their movement, sure they weren't walking slowly, but they certainly weren't running. With one last glance, she pulled away and made her way further down the road looking for the exit she knew would bring her closer to home.

She was pleased to find the back roads fairly empty, the roads weren't quite countryside, but the real estate promised in the area was far from beginning, leaving a vast space of level dirt and pegs marking out land plots. Finally she reached where she needed to be, all she had to do now was enter the same main road she had hit earlier, but an exit further down, travel about a hundred yards, and cross the other side of the busy intersection of Anzac Avenue into her estate. She groaned inwardly as she prepared for what would face her as she turned the corner.

Gripping the steering wheel she elected to just drive as fast as she could and plough down anyone who stood in her way, hoping that anybody that wasn't trying to bite her would be in that position, she had no intention of taking the lives of innocent people.

She slammed her foot on the accelerator a little harder than she meant to and flinched at the sound of the tyres burning against the road. Rounding the corner she could see the exit was a lot clearer than the one she had tried previously. Slowing a little to avoid losing control as she turned left, she rounded the exit and floored the accelerator again, the engine jumped to life and began to scream at her to slow down, but she relented until she reached the exit to her estate after just a minute, checking the oncoming traffic and seeing nothing but stationery vehicles, she turned right into the estate and expertly navigated the two small roundabouts before her house. As she exited the final roundabout, she felt her keys searching for the right key fob, pressing the button to raise her garage door, as she pulled up the drive and into the garage, she flicked the button again as she checked in her mirrors to check none of those monsters had followed her successfully.

When the garage was dark apart from the small light attached to the door mechanism, she exited her Ute and rushed into her house, She ran straight to the backdoor and slid both it and the security screen open and couldn't hold in the smile as the black and white pooch bundled into the house and jumped up at her with a wagging tail, completely unaware of the danger lurking outside.

She quietly shut both doors, making sure to lock them both before setting herself into action. Her partner Lizzie, and herself had long started playing a game called 'Right Now' where at random times they would ask "Zombie apocalypse happens right now, what do you do?" and they would take it in turns to find a solution based on whether it was standard zombies or 'World War Z' zombies, sometimes comedic, sometimes serious, but they had played the game enough times in the two years they had been together to know that if anything was to happen, they always said they would eventually get into the loft space for safety until they could meet up. And so that's exactly what Rebecca began to do.

She ran around the house, grabbing what she could and piling it into the garage. Underneath the small hatch in the ceiling, was a large sturdy tall boy housing all of Lizzie and her shoes, with a laundry dryer perched on top of it. Using both items carefully, it was extremely easy to get into the loft space. That was one of two entry points; the other was in the hallway near two spare bedrooms and a bathroom which couldn't be accessed without ladders.

Rebecca ran around the house making sure that all blinds were closed, leaving only a thin section of window by the front door and the window in the laundry door allowing any visual inside her one story home, she grabbed the sheet from the bed and the hammer and some nails from the garage and quickly tacked the sheet up to cover the window at the front door. It wouldn't stop any of the, Rebecca laughed to herself as she actually thought the word, zombies getting into the house, but it would stop them from seeing that there was anything worth breaking into the house for.

Finally happy that she had all the necessities on the garage floor, she set to work lifting her stash up into the loft space, happy that she had thought of everything they may need to survive up there for at least a week. She had numerous bottles of water, food ranging through chips, biscuits, noodles and tinned goods; a first aid kit, pillows and blankets, a bucket to use as a toilet, torches and lanterns with the spare battery box, cans of coke and lemonade, a deck of cards, toilet roll, a fan, a power extension lead, note pads and pens, candles and lighters.

After lifting all the items into the boarded out loft space, she grabbed Lady's chain and linked the catch to the ring on her collar before lifting the confused dog into the loft with a lot of difficulty before following her furry friend into the dark space and placing the hatch door almost over the hatch allowing just a sliver of light and air to come through the gap. She smoothed a quilt out into the side and patted the space to entice Lady to lie down, which she dutifully did with a very slight wag of her tail as she received a tickle under the chin.

Rebecca began to organise the items she had collected towards the sides and corners allowing her more space to stretch out before realising she had forgotten to bring up the camp mattresses from the garage, she lowered herself back down the hatch and grabbed the two bulky bags from a unit holding all of her camping gear in large duffle bags and boxes.

Once she had sorted through and arranged all of her camping items in the loft, she sat with Lady's head on her thigh and stroked her head lovingly as she relaxed, her shoulders aching from the sheer amount and weight of some of the items she had lifted up through the hatch which was tight enough for her to struggle getting just herself through it. After a few moments she found herself restless and anxious as all of her attempts to call Lizzie's mobile again in the past hour had been unsuccessful.

She lowered herself onto the tall boy, reaching back up to lift Lady down; She moved into her theatre room and flicked on the huge wall mounted flat screen and turned the volume to barely audible, she flicked through the stations trying to locate anymore new information but found that the images she had viewed at Mrs Landsbury's were being repeated here. She flicked off the TV.

Her athletic frame made its way through the house checking outside the windows into the back and side garden to make sure that there wasn't any of those things in her garden. Once satisfied, she made her way back into the garage and entered the garden via the wooden door at the rear of the building, Peeping through the small hole, she made sure that the utility area was free of bodies and that the gate leading into the front garden was locked. As quietly as possible she lifted the latch to the first gate and made her way to the second gate, again peeping through the hand hole and gasping as she saw numerous zombies prowling the road in front of her home completely unaware of her presence.

Holding her breath she moved the two large bins as silently as possible to sit in front of the gate and blocking it from being opened, standing on the bottom rail of the fence she lifted her head a little over the height of the fence to get a better view at the situation, careful to not be spotted she counted seventeen walkers in the road. Lowering her head she made her way to the opposite side of the large 5000 litre water tank and unlocked the shed using the numerical padlock, ignoring the masses of plastic plant pots, seeds and the wheel barrow; she grabbed the spades, shovels, forks, axes, pick axes and rakes, flinching in panic with every tiny sound she made, and carried them inside the garage, she stacked them up next to her Ute before returning to the shed, this time she grabbed the gardening gloves, the wooden stakes, the hedge clippers and plant pruners, scissors and knives, a hammer, a box of odd nails and screws, two torches with some batteries, a big bottle of water and a box of grain bars. Dumping the items next to her previous collection, she returned to the shed and locked it before shutting the first gate and as quietly as possible she lifted a cast iron and wooden bench that sat just to the gates side in front of it.

She turned to call Lady in, but found her hovering close to her feet with her ears down and her tail trembling slightly between her legs. Lady, being a border collie, was normally true to the breeds nature, active, full of energy and interested in anything and everything, it was unusual for Rebecca to see her so quiet and timid, but she brushed off her musing's as she decided to make a start on the next stage of her plan.

She moved the tent from the camping stand into the tray of her Ute pushing it as far into the front corner as she possibly could, separating out the tools she had just collected from the garden, she placed several in her Ute tray and lifted the others up into the loft space. Next she grabbed the blow up bed and the cigar powered pump and placed them to the back of the tray, next came the fishing rods and tackle boxes, the camping chairs and some tarps and poles.

She moved into the master bedroom and grabbed the large blue and grey bag from the wardrobe and began pilling important valuables and clothing into it as neatly as she could to save as much space as possible. Despite it being the middle of January in Queensland, she packed some gloves, scarves, hats and winter coats as well as ample t-shirts, jeans, shorts, hoodies, swimmers and underwear. With still ample space left in the massive bag, she made into the en suite and grabbed some toilet rolls, razors, toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, conditioner, shower gels, tampons and towels. With the bag finally starting to look a little fuller she filled the final space with all of the leather belts from her wardrobe and some jewellery and a few photographs from the bedside tables of their family. She zipped up the heaving bag and wheeled it to the Ute where she placed it in the tray with a thud and winced as the sound echoed. She moved towards the aluminium garage door and listened intently to see if she had attracted any unwanted attention, and satisfied that she had not, she moved on.

She returned to the master bedroom and filled a second much smaller bag with a selection of what clothing was left to take into the loft space to use over the next few days while she waited for Lizzie to get home and they decided what they would do while they waited to see if and when this would blow over. She moved this into the loft space, whispering calming words to Lady who sat at next to the tall boy, shivering and whining as she thought she was being left in the house alone.

From the spare bedroom she took two large suitcases, both on wheels and pulled them into the kitchen where she began to empty the remainder of the food and drinks into each of them ensuring to grab all the spices and dried herbs and oils. When both seemed to be heavy she zipped them up and placed them in the tray next at the very front so they were accessible should she need them soon. She grabbed some cardboard boxes that lay flat against the wall, discarded from their move, and began to erect them. Taking the first two boxes, she moved to the bookstand and began to pack all the cookbooks into one, then the gardening books, DIY books and home magazines into its remainder and the second box. She carried them to the Ute and piled them in before sitting down on the floor and emptying a can of coke of its contents thirstily.

From the height of the floor, her eye caught some containers on a old bookshelf to the side of the garage and she smiled slightly, she walked over to it and grabbed the industrial sized disinfectant, the numerous cans of bug spray and mosquito repellant wheels and placed them in the Ute before returning for the WD-40, several rolls of duct tape and parcel tape, some oils and glues and finally three jerry cans, two full of petrol and one a third empty. Next to be placed into the tray was some bundles of rope and various hand tools, nails, screws and a box of latex gloves.

She walked around the house once more, Lady firmly at her heels and collected any other items she thought may come in useful at some point or anything that she had forgotten; board games, dog biscuits, pads of paper and pencil cases, rolls of electricians tape, hair ties, elastic bands, board markers, umbrella's, buckets, sun tan lotion, pillows, her acoustic guitar, several backpacks, sun glasses, chopping boards, pots and pans, supermarket carrier bags, sewing kits, the whole first aid drawer, the plastic stack and store boxes used for food, bottle and can openers, the water bottles that you use for lunch boxes which she filled with water, straws, two cricket bats, bars of soap, bottles of hand wash, goggles, snorkel and fins, beach chairs, picnic blankets, Lizzie's cricket shin pads, bbq briquettes, fire starters, a set of crutches, wellies, trainers and several pairs of thongs. Once all of those items were secured inside the tray in various boxes, she walked the house looking for empty bottles and having found three, one litre bottles and four, two litre bottles, she rinsed them out, filled them with water and placed half in the cab of the Ute and half in the tray. Satisfied that everything of use had been packed, she covered the tray with a blue tarpaulin sheet which she fastened down and placed an elasticated net over the top of the sheet to hold it all together tightly and protect it from any rain if she had to leave in a hurry.

By the time she was finally finished with her preparations, she glanced at the clock on her phone and saw that it was well past five in the evening, the sun would start thinking about setting soon and night would quickly follow. She lifted Lady up into the loft space once more, trying to not worry too much about the tremble in the dogs body, and lifted herself up into the space, once again moving the hatch lid to an almost closed position to allow at least some air into the confined roof space.

She called Lady into her bed and she snuggled into her, running her hand over the dogs white stomach in hope to sooth her. She pulled out a book she hadn't packed into the back of the Ute and began to read it by torch light; hoping that the Hunger Games would remove her from this world until Lizzie finally arrived home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

That first night had been long, hot and uncomfortable causing Rebecca to give in any attempts at sleep at around five in the morning. Lizzie had still not returned, neither had the reception on her mobile which had disappeared at around three in the morning and so she had no way to contact her partner, she was extremely worried about her but tried to not allow her mind to focus too much on the fact.

Deciding to check out how the front of the house was looking, Rebecca moved the hatch door and checked the garage quickly before lowering herself into the room, she had locked the door that led into the hall of the house and out of caution she rested her ear against the cool painted wood board to listen for any sign of movement from inside the house. After a few moments, and satisfied that the coast seemed clear, she slid the key into its slot and turned it allowing the mechanism to click into space, the normally barely noticeable sound echoed loudly this morning causing Rebecca to flinch. Holding the handle firmly, she listened once again for any sounds emanating from inside her home; finally she opened the door, just a crack to begin with. Satisfied that the hall was clear, she grabbed the cricket bat that she hadn't packed into her Ute and began to check the house to make sure that none of those things had gotten in, she had been listening all night to bangs on the front and garage door, it had taken all of her effort to sooth Lady so she didn't bark or growl and attract any further attention to their presence, and she had not heard any smashes from the very few parts of windows that weren't covered in crimsafe grates.

Next she checked the garden by peering silently between the wooden slats of her Venetian blinds, around the garden, when she was sure the garden still looked empty, she went outside with her bat to check the perimeter of her land and to make sure that the gates were still in place and locked. Happy that her home had not been breached she moved into the garage and called Lady down from the loft, she wanted the dog to learn how to get herself down as lifting her up and down every time was beginning to take its toll on her muscles. After a fair amount of hesitation, finally Lady jumped from the hatch to the tumble dryer, onto the tall boy and finally to the floor before looking at her owner expectantly who rewarded her with a cuddle and a quick tummy rub.

They made their way to the back garden, where Lady instantly relieved herself before running around her garden and stretching out her muscles, her tail wagging as she darted between her toys and her owner.

Rebecca sat on the garden chair enjoying a few moments of normalcy as she watched her pooch play happily. Before long she decided it was time to start her day, she walked to the back left corner of her garden where he had built an L shaped bench against the fence line which framed a square fire pit, using the bench, she peeped into the garden to the left and the garden behind for any signs of activity, it was silent.

Using the retaining wall attached to the end of the bench, she quietly walked it's length search as near and far as possible for any signs of life, when she reached the far right side of the garden she found the remains of a body on the alfresco on the right of her property.

She watched it for a few moments to check that the body defiantly wasn't moving, and when satisfied she continued her search of the perimeter of her house. She moved into her home and to the master bedroom situated at the front of the house and peeped through the wooden Venetians and again was met with nothing, the only real sign that the happenings of the previous day being real and not some kind of dreadful dream was the dead body laid next door and the fact she had barely slept in the loft.

She moved into the theatre room and flicked on the tv mounted in the centre of the wall, instead of the repeat of news that she had found yesterday, today she only found black and white static. She flicked through every station just to be certain, and flicked the television off in dissatisfaction when every single channel was off.

She had decided last night that today she would make some more efforts to fortify her own home, if she was going to be hanging around here whilst she waited for Lizzie to return, she needed to make sure it was safe for her to return to.

Flicking her bedside lamp on, she smiled that for now the electricity was still running, moving into the garage she grabbed her electric drill, her box of drill bits and a box of screws as well as her battery powered screw driver, starting at the front of her house, she moved her tools onto the bed in her bedroom before moving into the utility area and grabbing a few off cuts of fence paling's and carrying them into the entrance of the hall. She pulled down the sheet she had tacked up the day before and held the various length planks of wood up against the tall thin window beside the front door she realised they weren't quite big enough and so she went and found some full length paling's that sat perfectly between the top and bottom frames. She drilled pilot holes and screwed in three planks which covered the window perfectly, she sat three more against the window that she intended to mount on the outside of the window later. She moved into the lounge and began to cover each part of window that wasn't covered by crimsafe screens, an hour later she was satisfied that all entry points into her home apart from the front door, laundry door and both garage doors were completely secure.

She moved to the ensuite and began to fill the bath and sink with water, not sure if the water would continue to run and not wanting to run out of drinkable water too soon, as the bath filled she set too blocking the laundry door off completely so it couldn't even be opened anymore, making sure to dead lock the triple locked crimsafe screen and the door first.

She grabbed her car keys, a ruck sack and the cricket bat and moved to the front door, she opened the wooden door leaving just the steel screen between her safety and the outside world and she listened intently, she heard nothing. The usual slight hum of traffic from the near by Anzac Avenue, the sounds from the various builders working on the houses to the rear of her property, the sounds of planes in the air; nothing. She unlocked the crimsafe screen and took a few steps, she moved to the edge of the porch and inspected the area surrounding her.

Across the road was two large vacant lots, one was being used as a gravel carpark for the near by demonstration homes, the other had been left to go fairly wild with builders dumping off cuts of materials and cement. To the right was a road and a row of demonstration houses, a roundabout that led to a few streets of houses, a path that led to Anzac Avenue and a small service station To the left was several houses that were lived in, a few dozen houses that were in various stages of being built and several dozen completely vacant blocks of land that held nothing but overgrown weeds. In the immediate horizon line to the left was a hill covered in trees, a bridge which covered the railway track that had started to be built but had never been finished and unlikely ever would now, a school, and between the two a small reservoir which couldn't be seen but Rebecca knew it was there. Off in the distance was the Westfield sign from about three kilometers down the round, between her estate and that supermarket was various fields, another school, a fruit and vegetable shop, a landscape nursery and three car garages in a row as well as a few homes on bigger blocks of land that weren't a part of her estate.

She looked at the time on her phone, it was now passing eight in the morning and despite the fact that Rebecca had gained very little sleep, she was feeling extremely pumped and full of energy.

She decided to check the neighbour's houses to see if anyone had made it home safe. After quietly shutting the screen door, she quietly walked to the house on the left, an Iranian family lived here; mother, step father, daughter and grandmother. She glanced through the window of the door and found the place empty and dark, using the gate to the side she checked over the fence knowing that in the garden there was at least one body. She entered through the gate quietly, closing it behind her and tried to ignore the pounding of her heart in her ears. She moved the cricket bat between each hand so she could wipe the sweat away before wringing her hands around its neck to get a good grip, she lifted it over her shoulder and readied herself to swing if she needed to as she walked quietly down the side of the house checking each window as she went despite the vertical blinds blocking her ability to see fully into the house.

She ignored the pattering of Lady's feet on the opposite side of the fence as the dog followed her owner's movements despite the wooden barrier.

She rounded the corner and flinched at the fowl stench starting to fill the air as the heat of the day began to soar. The only time she had ever managed to smell anything similar was when there had been several dead mice in her garage that had died due to the poison she had laid out for them and had hidden behind a unit only to be found a week or so later half decayed.

After checking that the body was the only inhabitant of the garden, she moved over to it silently and using her cricket bat she flipped the body over with a lot of effort and jumped when the bodies jaw began snapping loosely at her, the body was mainly bones with tiny bits of what was left of parts of muscle and tendon attached to bones which were surprisingly clean, almost like they had been licked clean of all blood. there was barely any muscle structure left at all apart from on the things head, which was covered in bite marks, its left ear completely missing and its once blonde hair matted with blood, chunks of organs dried between parts of hair.

She watched it for a few moments with the same disgusted interest as you felt passing a car accident at the side of the road, as the head hungrily snapped its jaws at her, the snap of its pearly white teeth echoing around the garden. She brought the cricket bat down upon the things forehead using all of her upper body strength the sound of the crack of its skull and seeing the thick black liquid oozing slowly into a pool around what moments ago was an animated head, caused Rebecca to empty her stomach, she tried to stifle her heaves as her body angrily rejected her stomachs contents.

When her stomach finally settled and the tall brunette had regained her breath, despite the foul stench clinging to the air, she wiped her mouth against the bottom hem of her T-shirt, wiped the black residue from her bat onto the grass, and made her way to the alfresco door, determined to push thoughts of what she had just done to that thing to the back of her mind.

After just ten minutes she had cleared the house, opened each window and shut each door, she found two sets of car keys in a bowl on top of a unit by the front door; she grabbed both sets and locked the screen and front door of the house. She closed the wooden door between the garage and the hall as she smiled at the two cars she had just acquired before moving into the kitchen. She grabbed a permanent marker from a pen pot on the kitchen counter and wrote the number 4 on both sets of keys, that way if she needed access quickly she knew which keys belonged to which house.

She grabbed a can of coke from her neighbour's fridge and swigged it down in just a few gulps. Searching in the cupboard underneath the kitchen sink, she grabbed a roll of black bin bags, a pair of marigolds and a roll of parcel tape.

She moved back into the garden and stared at the body laid on the floor, feeling the bile rise to the back of her throat again, she swallowed hard and closed her eyes, determined to finish her task without emptying anymore of her stomach contents.

She unrolled a few bags and put on her marigolds, taking a deep breath to mentally prepare herself she bent down and grabbed the caved in head and threw it into the black bag before turning and throwing up on the grass. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve this time she turned and grabbed the rest of the body and forced it into two bags, the lack of muscle and organs making quick and easy work as large sections of the body tore away from itself.

Finding a wheel barrow down a side path on the opposite side of the house, she lifted the surprisingly light bags into it before removing her marigolds and placing them neatly over the tip of the barrow, she moved the barrow to the same gate that she used to enter the garden. Taking the gun attached to a hose, she turned the tap and pulled the hose to the bottom of the garden where she gave the area the body had been laid and her various piles of vomit a good hose down. When finished she turned off the hose, checked over the gate for signs of movement, then moved the barrow across the road and emptied the two bags into the centre of the carpark and the furthest end from her house.

She returned to the second and final house on the left that had occupants and prepared herself to start over. Two bachelors lived here, both in their early thirties, Steve and Brian. She didn't know either very well but had spent various evenings over the year she had lived on the street sharing a beer and small talk with one or both guys whilst watering the front garden on the warm evenings.

Using the double side gate, she entered the garden and prepared herself again, she walked the few meters to the alfresco which sat in between a bedroom and kitchen and backed onto the dining room and stopped when she heard a whimpering. She walked slowly towards the wooden kennel next to the kitchen door; she crouched down to see through the flap and smiled when she saw the Alsatian cowering at the back. Upon seeing a friendly face Zeus instantly leapt out of the wooden enclosure and into Rebecca's arms, pushing her to the ground.

"Hey Boy, What are you doing here all alone?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Zeus had heard her, the evidence was apparent in the speed his tail was now wagging.

Finally Rebecca rose and Zeus followed obediently by her heel as she entered and checked the house and did the same routine she did at the house next door opening the windows and shutting the doors. There was no car's in the drive, so Rebecca could only assume both Steve and Brian hadn't made it home from work the day before. She found a set of motorbike keys with two door keys attached, she checked and found the motorbike still in the garage, she knew it was only a recreational toy of Brian's and so had expected it to still be there.

Locking up the house she walked Zeus back to her own house and after locking up after the two of them, she introduced him to Lady in her garden and went to grab the three of them some food, so far it had been a physically and mentally draining day.

After securing the only other occupied house surrounding her own, Rebecca decided to spend the remainder of her day safe housing the area around her, content with her relative safety in the estate she knew well.

She removed the Gerry can that was only half empty and made her way back to number four and drained almost all of the fuel from both cars leaving just a few dregs in the bottom of their fuel tanks. She checked the boots of both vehicles, removing the spare tyres, tools and various other useful items and laying them to the side of the garage floor.

She opened the electric garage door glad that the power seemed to still be working for now. Taking first the sporty red car, she drove it over the roundabout and to the path walkway that led to Anzac Avenue and the small service station, with alot of effort she finally managed to park the car across the width of the clearance blocking in the entrance, it wasn't ideal as all it would take is for somebody to jump over the low barricade, however she hadn't had time to examine these zombies yet so had no idea if they were even capable of jumping or climbing, at the very least the blockade created a barrier in the way of the path of least resistance. If Rebecca decided to stay on in this housing estate she would need to reinforce it at some point.

She exited the car and locked it, she quietly climbed over the hood and used the rendered wall as cover so she could scope on the damage on the road this morning, she was glad to see the road completely empty apart from several dozen abandoned cars in various states, some looked completely normal and others with some or all windows smashed. She spent a few minutes surveying up and down the long wide road listening and watching intently. After about ten minutes she felt safe in the knowledge that the road was clear.

She walked back to her neighbour's house carefully and took the second car she had already drained of fuel; she turned the ignition over and moved the car to the only road entrance to the estate, glad that the developers were no where near installing the second entrance.

The only way to enter the estate by car was via a dual carriageway in and out; between the double width sets of bitumen was a meter wide strip of central reservation that held several young trees surrounded by beige pebbles. To the right of the road upon entering, a path and next do that a deep void which was full of plants and used for storm water to avoid the new estate flooding, when the weather was dry, which was most of the time the 'river bed' showed the trunks of hundreds of trees and shrubs all designed to soak up as much excess water as possible. The path led to a bridge which crossed over the river bed, past the large school field and into the school. The school and its grounds were fenced off using a 1.8 meter metal fence, sturdy and strong to keep the children safe.

After depositing the first car from her neighbours house, Rebecca began to move as many cars as she could from Anzac Avenue as quickly and as quietly as possible, each time checking the fuel gauge to ensure she parked the car with the fuel flap facing the estate so she could drain the fuel as safely as possible and checking each car and its boot for objects of use and placing them on the backseat of each vehicle. She had completely blocked off the road entering the estate using six cars and was satisfied that she had parked the cars tightly enough to ensure a body wouldn't be able to fit between the vehicles only over them.

It was in the seventh car she checked that she found her first active zombie, sat in the front passenger seat and trapped by its seatbelt; she watched it for a few moments intently knowing she may not get another chance soon to inspect these things with relative safety.

The first thing she noticed was the smell from inside the car, similar to the one she had just smelt in her neighbour's garden only much stronger. The putrid stench clung to the hairs in her nose forcing her to open her mouth to breathe, the scent was that strong that the taste buds on her tongue tingled in disgust.

She backed away from the car and took a few deep breaths willing the food she had eaten not so long ago to remain in her stomach. After a few moments she returned to the car and watched the monster, she walked around the car slowly taking note of how it watched her, how its head thrashed almost angrily, daring her to come closer to it. The closer she got to the passenger door the more animated it became, its movements were rigid, almost like its muscles were rusty parts to an engine and she couldn't help but stand beside the window and watch it through the glass.

Zombie movies and TV shows had always fascinated her and as she looked into the bloodshot eyes of the thing before her, she couldn't help take note that they looked almost nothing like any of those imaginary things had looked like, infect they looked almost normal, human. Whereas most movies gave zombies a glassed over eye, sometimes even an eye with a pupil so big that it covered most of the iris if not all of it, but these were just the normal eyes of somebody who hadn't slept well for a few days or who was extremely hungover. She had seen many people on a Monday morning after a whole weekend of drinking that looked extremely similar to this thing, infact only its actions differentiated them.

The zombie didn't calm down any, its actions constant as it tried to reach its prey. She glanced to its chest covered in a tight T-shirt covered in splatterings of blood, she focused on its breasts for a few moments and realised they were completely still, this zombie didn't breath. She placed her hand lightly on the window and tried not to flinch as her captive pounced towards the window, snapping its jaws furiously at her hand leaving her with no doubt that had the window not been there the thing would have bitten her. Another thing she noticed was the sound of its jaws snapping together, it reminded her of the time she had visited Hartley's Crocodile Farm up in Cairns and had seen some croc's up close on the boat tour and had been blown away by the pure strength in their jaws as the tour guide had teased the reptile with parts of a chickens body, this snap was similar, although not quite as loud. She couldn't help but wonder if the host's body was transferring all of the muscular energy into its jaw.

She stood watching it for a long time, fascinated by the way it never blinked or moved unless to follow her movement. Eventually she moved back round to the drivers side and opened the door, she crouched down behind the door allowing her some cover as she tried not to let the stench be the cause of her throwing up again.

Another thing that rang out to her was how quiet this thing was, she had seen many shows where zombies growled, screeched and sometimes even mumbled, but this thing was almost silent save for the occasional soft groan that would escape its mouth as it struggled to reach for her. It sounded like a person being suffocated, as if the thing was fighting for a breath and its throat was restricting its ability.

She took an opportunity to take a closer look at its skin; it was slightly paler than what she would expect, almost like a tourist from Western Europe who visited Australia's sunny shores with their pale skin colouring. It's lips had a blue hue to them and its gums seemed to be blackening around its normal shaped teeth.

Eventually she had decided she had spent enough time examining the monster before her and knew she needed to get on and make her home that little bit more secure before night fell again.

She removed her rucksack and retrieved the marigolds, a large knife, a dust mask and some dust proof glasses. One thing she had picked up on from zombie movies was that no one was ever careful with blood splatter when disposing of zombies, often characters would mutilate their assailants and its blood would splash across their face, into their pores, their eyes, sometimes even their mouth, and they wouldn't turn. It had always baffled her and she was determined to not prove the movies wrong but instead be safe about it. When her eyes, nose and mouth were covered she turned the car on, wound the passenger window all the way down using the control panel on the driver's door and made her way back over to the passenger's side.

She contemplated the message always fed in the movies 'don't kill unless being chased, keep hidden instead' it wasn't a message she agreed with, the more she could kill the less of them there was to build into a hoard and kill her, and with that thought in her mind she pushed the knife forward into the walkers forehead as she held her breath And tried Not to think about the person this thing had once been.

She frowned when the knife sliced easily through the skin but stopped at the bone, another false message from the movies. The monster in the car began to thrash its arms and head angrily towards her, trying desperately to catch just a tiny part of her that it could use to leverage her towards its mouth. She pulled the knife back and tried again putting a little more force into it, but once again the knife stopped at the bone, she tried again a little harder and again it failed.

She walked to her rucksack on the drivers seat and pulled out a red claw hammer from it, she returned to the zombie this time placing the knife in the centre of its forehead, careful to not let its thrashing head move her hand into its bite zone, she swung the hammer and connected it with the knifes handle and felt a morbid satisfaction when the knife jerked past the bone and the zombie's body instantly relaxed, its head flopping back against the head rest, its arms flopping to its sides, one landing with a soft thud against the centre column.

She pulled the knife back out with a bit of effort surprised by how the skull struggled against releasing the sharp metal. Moving around to the driver's seat she wiped the gunk from the blade and tucked it back into her bag. She clicked the release button on the seatbelt freeing the corpse from its confines, using her foot she pushed hard against the corpse's hip, forcing it out of the car until it laid in a heap on the hot Tarmac.

She moved the car into position on the opposite side before doing the same with several more cars leaving a space two cars wide in the middle of the entrance lane.

She grabbed her rucksack and made her way back to her own home again and to the two dogs who were very happy to see her, she refreshed their water and tossed them a treat each before grabbing a bottle of water from her fridge and moving out onto the couch on her alfresco to sit and relax for a few minutes in the shade, it was a particularly hot day and moving in and out of red hot cars for the past hour or so had taken its toll on the tall brunette and caused her to lose alot of her bodies water in the form of sweat. She took her time cooling down and enjoying the refreshment the water provided throughout her entire body as she tossed a tennis ball and smiled contently at the two dogs chasing it happily and oblivious to the destruction outside of the garden.

Eventually she decided that she had taken a longer break that was probably necessary and so made a move onto the next part of her plan. Her neighbour on the corner had a Landover and she knew the newer models to be extremely unreliable, and the neighbour two doors down at the end of the little strip had a Nissan that was big enough to carry seven people. She moved both cars to the inside of the wall of cars she had created and reversed them back to back using the parking sensors on both vehicles to get her not only close to the wall of cars but practically touching each other. This meant that if she ever needed to take a car in or out of the estate, she could use those two cars as a gate and move them to allow her access.

Once she had finished on the wall she set about creating a second layer of cars, putting in her best efforts to make sure a centre of one of the cars on the second layer sat exactly between the edges of the cars on the first layer. She packed them tightly leaving only two and a half car widths in the same place as her make shift gate. She surveyed her work and was content that the wall of cars created enough of a blockade that anyone wishing to enter the estate would need to climb over the cars as there was no possible way they could walk through them. She checked her phone and tried to ignore the pain in the pit of her stomach that there were no messages or missed calls from Lizzie still despite the fact that she knew there was no reception, and despite the ache in her heart she pressed herself on forwards.

It was now passing 2pm and she had cleared out 4 houses including her own, safe guarded the windows and doors in her own home, blocked off both entrances into the estate and had plenty of sunlight left to set to another task.

The part of the estate to the right of her home was set out like the number eight. Two squares connected by a road in the centre, houses on both the inside and the outside of each square. The square at the rear of the estate had normal houses that were being lived in inside and outside the square, the read and side backing onto Anzac Avenue fenced in a two and a half meter solid wood fence held together by sections of rendered wall. The square nearest to the entrance held the same side wall, houses to the inside and outside of the square, on the outermost parts were of the face and side were demonstration houses for several companies. She set to making her way around the streets moving away from her house towards the back of the estate first.

The news of the outbreak hit during the day meaning that most people would have been at work and school, a few like herself, would have been able to leave work immediately and return home, some may have made it home others like Lizzie probably not, some may have returned, packed their belongings and left, some may have stayed and not survived the night, hopefully some may have stayed and made it through the night and she could find them and let them know that there was other survivors in the estate. Whatever the circumstances, she decided to work her way round the streets starting on the outside, then the inside, she wouldn't look for any useful items or food today, simply clear the houses to make sure there was no zombies within her barrier and make contact with any survivors she found.

It was nerve wracking work and with each house cleared she reckoned her luck was wearing thin before she found an active zombie that wasn't restrained, she only hoped when the time came she had the strength and ability to dispose of it without being bitten or infected.


End file.
